I need to know the secret to getting funded. It seems like all you need to do is slap a "social network" into your busuiness plan, and you're set.
Onto the actual site - The fact that you can't create relationships within the service itself might have to do with the fact that users are expected to use widgets within EXISTING networks (of course, I'm not sure about this).
Jacob Levy
· 3 years ago
Blah... A social networking bookmark profile meet my friends oh I'm so cool and fashionable fashion site... I'll pass.
AhmedF
· 3 years ago
It isn't hard. Ive had over half a dozen VCs come after me. It is almost as if they have a money tree that is slowly dying, and it has to be spent as quickly as possible :)
Geoff
· 3 years ago
Wow! A company launches a public *alpha* and gets 2.62m and fanfare? They must be cooler than Google.
That must be the secret. If I find out what comes before alpha, I'll be King of the World.
Alfalpha?
Nick Gavronsky
· 3 years ago
I think for mainstream adoption they really need to allow users to connect with friends. But I really am getting sick of seeing a new social networking site pop up every day AND get funding.
Jeff
· 3 years ago
The real scary part is how much money is floating around to be sucked into these black holes never to be seen again.
They should start a site that pays the teen scene to be locked in a room where they have to watch ads all day.
Then the teens know what they're in for, they make money and the advertiser gets what they are really want.
All this 'start a web 2.0' in the hope of attracting teen eyeballs, then hopefully have the numbers to adspam them is crazy.
GorrillaToes
· 3 years ago
It's as if the name of the game IS to get seed money. It's not about creating a service with a business model that will result in profitability. As long as you can issue the coveted, "BlahBlah has recieved seed money from a VC" , then you have succeeded.
I would say 75% of these web 2.0 sites that have funding will never recoup a dime for the investors...but hey, so what, right?
StyleHive has 2,000 members since launching months ago. 2,000 members = 3 million in funding? wtf?
Ted Rheingold
· 3 years ago
It's funny. I wonder why all the commenters are complete haters. A $2.5M investmest is nothing if you're a well-funded VC firm and the potential of passion-centric communities, especially one so closely tied to product marketing, are astoundingly huge.
Oftentimes VC investment is based upon seeing a working prototype and determing if full fleshed out how valuable that product can be. To anyone that thinks that's easy then I suggest by all means to make it happen.
Stylehive has got a solid engaging site that is very welcoming to it's target audience, they've got some smart experienced people running the show and I bet they've attracted a good number of dedicated passionate employees. Imagine where they could be in 2 years? They could very easily be a $50M-$100M company. Congrats to Stylehive for making a great site that is clearly appreciated by their members happen and to Lightspeed for recognizing this so early.
Patrick Kerssermakers
· 2 years ago
The future will tell if the investers are right. ....lets hope they stick there money in speeding up there site with some servers...
All Comments
Onto the actual site - The fact that you can't create relationships within the service itself might have to do with the fact that users are expected to use widgets within EXISTING networks (of course, I'm not sure about this).
That must be the secret. If I find out what comes before alpha, I'll be King of the World.
Alfalpha?
They should start a site that pays the teen scene to be locked in a room where they have to watch ads all day.
Then the teens know what they're in for, they make money and the advertiser gets what they are really want.
All this 'start a web 2.0' in the hope of attracting teen eyeballs, then hopefully have the numbers to adspam them is crazy.
I would say 75% of these web 2.0 sites that have funding will never recoup a dime for the investors...but hey, so what, right?
StyleHive has 2,000 members since launching months ago. 2,000 members = 3 million in funding? wtf?
Oftentimes VC investment is based upon seeing a working prototype and determing if full fleshed out how valuable that product can be. To anyone that thinks that's easy then I suggest by all means to make it happen.
Stylehive has got a solid engaging site that is very welcoming to it's target audience, they've got some smart experienced people running the show and I bet they've attracted a good number of dedicated passionate employees. Imagine where they could be in 2 years? They could very easily be a $50M-$100M company. Congrats to Stylehive for making a great site that is clearly appreciated by their members happen and to Lightspeed for recognizing this so early.